CVE-2025-6018

Name	CVE-2025-6018
Description	A Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerability has been discovered in pam-config within Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). This flaw allows an unprivileged local attacker (for example, a user logged in via SSH) to obtain the elevated privileges normally reserved for a physically present, "allow_active" user. The highest risk is that the attacker can then perform all allow_active yes Polkit actions, which are typically restricted to console users, potentially gaining unauthorized control over system configurations, services, or other sensitive operations.
Source	CVE (at NVD; CERT, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source Package	Release	Version	Status
pam (PTS)	bullseye	1.4.0-9+deb11u1	fixed
	bookworm	1.5.2-6+deb12u1	fixed
	forky, sid, trixie	1.7.0-5	fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

Package	Type	Release	Fixed Version	Urgency	Origin	Debian Bugs
pam	source	(unstable)	(not affected)

Notes

- pam <not-affected> (SUSE specific issue)
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/17/4
https://www.qualys.com/2025/06/17/suse15-pam-udisks-lpe.txt